Lowry urged to attend Moriarty debate

The Minister for Agriculture has said it is up to Michael Lowry what he does with his political future in the wake of the publication of the Moriarty Tribunal report.

Speaking on This Week, Simon Coveney said there will be a very comprehensive debate on the Tribunal report in the Dáil this week and it would be absolutely unacceptable if Mr Lowry did not participate.

Meanwhile, one of the directors of the Persona consortium, which came second behind Esat Digifone in the contest for the awarding of the State's second mobile phone licence, has called on the Government to accept that the licensing process was flawed.

Tony Boyle said that if it has to, the Persona consortium would continue with its Supreme Court challenge of the decision as it is determined to get justice.

A Spokesman for Denis O'Brien when asked had he any response to Persona director Tony Boyle's comments, said he had no comment to make.

Meanwhile, RTÉ has learned that gardaí were called in to investigate a suspected breach of security at the Moriarty Tribunal the week before its final report was published.

It is understood that the breach related to an incident involving the direct phone line used by Mr Justice Michael Moriarty.

The breach prompted a concern that the phone may have been tapped.

A team of technical experts from the gardaí conducted a sweep of the Tribunal office complex including the phone used by the Tribunal Chairman, other phones and technical equipment and checks throughout the building.

It is understood that no evidence of interference was found within the tribunal.

It is not clear whether a review of security already has been or may yet be extended to examine all the external access points to the phone system within the tribunal offices.

This could be done to allay any concerns about whether the security of the Moriarty Tribunal had been breached in any manner.

The gardaí and the Moriarty Tribunal have both declined to make any comment on the incident or the subsequent investigations.

As a matter of routine Garda technical teams conduct routine sweeps of sensitive State offices, including Tribunals, but in this case the examination was prompted by a particular incident.